30 GLACIAL AND SURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



reo-ions of Europe, is much to be desired. It is quite likely that the Shasta 

 glaciers are literally the remains of former more extensive glaciation ; and 

 that if it were possible for them to be entirely removed, they would not 

 under the present climatological conditions be able to form again. Judging 

 from what we know of the conditions necessary for the formation of glacier 

 ice, and from tlie past history of the glaciation of the Sierra, it is not unlikely 

 that at the bottoms of the deepest and most persistent snow accumulations 

 on the flanks of that range ntve or even ice may be found at times when, 

 as in 1870, the occurrence of several especially dry seasons in succession 

 has caused the snow to shrink to a minimum. In spite of the dryness of 

 the atmo.sphere, some of the melting snow must sink down into the mass, 

 and tiiere are also occasional showers to moisten it, so that in the long 

 run the formation of mve or even of ice itself may take place. In 1866, 

 which was a year when there was less than the usual amount of snow in the 

 Sierra, Messrs. King and Gardner, in the course of their explorations for the 

 Geological Survey, discovered a bed of ice on the east slope of Mount Ritter, 

 which was thus described in theii- notes : " In a deep cul-de-sac, which opens 

 southeast on the east slope [of Mount Ritter], lies a bed of ice two hundred 

 yards wide, and about half a mile long. It has moved down from the upper 

 end of the gorge from thirty to fifty feet this year, leaving a deep gulf be- 

 tween the vertical stone wall and the ice." No such masses of ice were 

 found by the writer or by any of his corps at any time, in the higher por- 

 tions of the Sierra farther south ; although such have been reported by 

 others, but not by persons having had any previous experience in the in- 

 vestigation of glacial phenomena. It is doubtful whether these residual 

 masses of ice can with propriety be called glaciers ; they have no geological 

 significance as such at tlie present time, however interesting they may be 

 as possible relics of a once general glaciation of the highest part of the 

 range. 



The explorations of Messrs. A. Hague and Emmons on Mount Hood and 

 Mount Rainier revealed the presence of large glaciers on those volcanic cones, 

 as would be naturally expected from their great height and high northern 

 latitude as compared with Mount Shasta. Mount Rainier is 3,000 feet higher 

 than Hood, and almost two degrees farther north, besides being much 

 larger in mass ; its glacier system is therefore very much more extensive than 

 that of the last-named cone. The largest described by Mr. Emmons is that 

 which forms the head of White River, running north into Paget Sound. Of 



